Tweezep!

Sunday morning... still recovering from the Saturday night spectacular - can't wait to hear the recording of last night's show. I was tired after the exertions of the first night - too much alcohol and kept thinking I should have gone into training before this trip because four hours of 'grooving' kills my calf muscles. Fortunately I had some medication to get me through this one from a different perspective. had a good seat on the other side of the hall and could see more of CK5's light magic tonight.
What a show. This one will definitely go down in Phish legend - probably as the 'Tweezep' show. There were some absolutely transcendent moments that were the greatest I've ever seen and the energy of 17,000 people going crazy and just so happy to be there in that place at that time was incredible. There is absolutely nothing like it but you cannot know that without being there. There's lots of great bands I've never seen but I feel priveleged to have seen quite a few yet nothing beats Phish when they hit the high spots and they are playing as well as they ever have right now.
No photos tonight - forgot to put the recharged battery back in my camera (durrr). So many great moments:
- the pause in Geulah Papyrus which went on for ages and the band just stood grinning while a full-scale glowstick war broke out before eventually piling back into the song
- breaking into Whole Lotta Love in the middle of Chalk Dust Torture.... speculation obviously rife about what album they'll cover in the Halloween show and the people's choice would definitely be Physical Graffiti so the crowd were not just surprised and excited to hear WLL but there was suddenly a tangible sense of excitement that shot round the room - was this a taster of what's to come tomorrow.....
- Ha Ha Ha bustout. 64 shows since they last played it and I was at that one
- amazing energy for Walk Away, everybody singing
- beautiful Page keys to end set I
- Possum. What a fucking song, what a way to control a crowd... just incredible... and Trey rocking hard. His guitar tone these 2 nights has changed subtly. I feel like he's used 'the Whale' much less than previously this year and sounds more hard rock tonight - another clue for tomorrow?
- Then the Tweezer/Zeppelin medley - everyone going crazy and the band just nailing it. Another 8 covers played tonight and yet they make each one their own and even Trey's vocals on Ramble On were spot on
- Show Of Life - 8th performance of a new song first played in June but already a firm favourite with the whole room singing along - expecting this to be the last song of Set II.... then a furious BDTNL and...
- Good Times Bad Times: at that moment in time was the best single gig performance I have ever witnessed... words cannot explain....
On stage at 8:15 - finish just before midnight
Set I
Kill Devil Falls
Cavern >
Foam
Geulah papyrus
Chalk Dust Torture ->
Whole Lotta Love >
Chalk Dust Torture
Ha Ha Ha
Walk Away
Wolfman's Brother ->
Undermind
Bathtub Gin
The Squirming Coil
Set II
Tube >
Possum >
Tweezer ->
Heartbreaker ->
Ramble On ->
Thank You ->
Tweezer ->
Stairway To Heaven
Halley's Comet >
2001 >
David Bowie
Show Of Life
Backwards Down the Number Line >
Good Times Bad Times
Encore
Sleeping Monkey >
Tweezer Reprise

Page side, rage side

It's 1:00am and I'm tired. Recap of Friday will follow in the morning - suffice to say Great Show tonight. Great atmosphere, all good but with plenty of room for more before Sunday...

Set I:
- Star Spangled Banner (a capella)
- My Soul
- AC/DC Bag
- Ocelot
- Sample In A Jar
- Light Up Or Leave Me Alone
- Sugar Shack
- Timber (Jerry) >
- Bouncing Round The Room
- Axilla >
- Rift
- The Moma Dance >
- Cities >
- 46 Days
Set II:
- Punch You In The Eye >
- Sand ->
- Carini >
- Prince Caspian
- Corinna
- Piper >
- Theme From The Bottom >
- Golgi Aparatus >
- Slave To The Traffic Light >
- Fluffhead
Encore:
- Loving Cup

On stage 8:15 - finished just before 12:00

No new songs, no bust-outs, no real surprises... 6 covers (though all Phish standards)... some big hitters - Slave, Fluffhead, Piper - but Antelope, Bowie, Hood, Tweezer still to come..... roll on tomorrow night

A Song I Heard The Ocean Sing

sign on the Boardwalk

Thursday 28th November - a long day of travelling. Left the house at 7:00am and got to the hotel in AC about 6:00pm EST - 16 hours.
First time at Heathrow Terminal 4 (I think) and turned out the Virgin flight I thought I was on was actually a Continental flight which was fully booked and the only seat left (apparently) was the middle one in the row marked in red on seatguru.com (which means don't sit there)... so not happy to start with. Mooched around the terminal buying magazines then went into the zone.... noone to talk to, not in any rush, just read and concentrate on not thinking about delays and how long everything is taking.
Turned out the seat wasn't so bad. Bit unusual being in Economy but hey, it was cheap and the entertainment system on Continental is pretty good - if you're used to United (but what isn't). Had to pay $6 each for 2 red wines but the food was surprisingly good too and in between reading the papers watched American Beauty again, slept for a while, then Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Landing at Newark (another first) was a bit hairy and flight an hour late overall then the joys of US Immigration. What a disorganised, deeply unpleasant soul-destrying experience that is. I don't understand why people dislike traffic wardens so much. We all know whether we're supposed to be parked somewhere or not so why's it their fault if we get a ticket. The arrogant obnoxious twats that work in US airports are far more more unpleasant.
Wandered round the airport for a while trying to find the National car rental. Had to make a phone call to get directions which involved getting on a monorail to another terminal, and from the window of the train could clearly see the Manhatten skyline - an unexpected treat. Picked up the car ok - nice Dodge Charger! - and set off vaguely in the direction of US95 South as the man at National recommended.

Then 3 hours of thinking I'm on the right road, then not sure, then stopping and checking Google Maps on my Blackberry, then turning round and going in a another direction, then just following any sign that said south, and eventually made it to Atlantic City. Beautiful sunset just as I was arriving....

Checked into a nice room at the Sheraton and went straight out to get food at the Tun Tavern http://www.tuntavern.com/ - Wasabi Tuna and the taster of 6 different beers brewed onsite. Then walked the 5 or 6 blocks down to the Boardwalk and along to Boardwalk Hall to see where all the action is going to take place.

One more beer and a wander round a casino then back to the Sheraton for sleep.